X-rated license plates: On Florida vanity tags, there are some things you just can't say

September 29, 2011|By Kathleen Haughney, Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — 4 PLAY69 is not an acceptable license plate in Florida; neither is 44 MAGNM or BABYPMP.

But, BIG NSTY, IM PAKN and HOT COP are all OK.

Over the past decade, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has had to review more than 1,800 requests for vanity plates because of their questionable content. Some were easily approved; others met with a resounding no from the department.

Like in other states, Florida residents can apply for license plates that have a combination of letters and numbers they choose themselves to create a personalized slogan. Such tags carry a $15 annual fee on top of the normal cost for a standard or specialty license plate.

When a driver applies for a vanity tag at the local tax collector's office, staff there are responsible for initially screening the application. Anything deemed potentially problematic is sent to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for review by special committee, with the director or assistant director of the Division of Motor Vehicles having the final say.

Over the years, the department has turned down a bumper crop of obscene or outrageous things Floridians wanted to say on their vanity plate.

"People are creative, I will say that," said Ann Howard, spokeswoman for the department, who helps review the tag requests.